CONTENTS:
0 Announcements
0 Why Bridges Built with Socialist Capital Collapse?
By William L. Anderson
0 Freedom, Development & Fascism
By Tibor R. Machan
0 Issues of the Month: Judiciary’s Moment of Redemption; Making the Bridge Collapse;
Pricing the Ramazan Package; and, The Wheat/Flour Price Crisis
Package
0 From the National Press
0 CSR Views & News
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Quote of the Month:
The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratic council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor.
[John Adams, 1735-1826]
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DISCOVER YOUR POLITICAL LEANINGS! World's Smallest Political Quiz
Take the Quiz now and find out where you fit on the political map!
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PHILOSOPHY OF LIBERTY
What is Philosophy of Liberty? A screensaver by Lux Lucre and Ken Schoolland explains it.
Download and install it. http://www.free-market.net/rd/321907219.html ; http://www.jonathangullible.com
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Announcements
Article: RULE OF LAW'S MAJOR DOMAINS
On September 23, 2007, Business Recorder published an article, Rule of Law's Major Domains, by Dr. Khalil Ahmad. The article argues that providing security and protection to citizens is the ultimate objective of a state and its institutions. They are there to establish writ of the law, so that citizens are able to live in freedom and happiness. If they fail in this, they defy their very purpose. The article was earlier carried by The Post and The News International also:
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=627066&currPageNo=1&query=&search=...
Article: LET THE HEAVENS FALL!
The Post on September 22, 2007, published an article, Let the heavens fall! The article takes up a statement of Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan in which he said: 'the Supreme Court will do justice even if heavens fall!' The article argues that his brother judges ought to follow suit and let the heavens fall.
Here is the link to the article:
http://thepost.com.pk/Arc_OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=119444&catid=11&date=09...
On September 23, 2007, The News International published the same article. Here is the link to the article:
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2007-weekly/nos-23-09-2007/pol1.htm#9
Article: THE ELUSIVE RULE OF LAW
The News International of September 16, 2007, published an article, The Elusive Rule of Law, by Dr. Khalil Ahmad. It was earlier published by The Post on September 07, 2007. The article argues that providing security and protection to citizens is the ultimate objective of a state and its institutions. They are there to establish writ of the law, so that citizens are able to live in freedom and happiness. If they fail in this, they defy their very purpose.
Here is the link to the article:
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2007-weekly/nos-16-09-2007/pol1.htm#5
Article: RULE OF LAW'S MINOR DOMAINS
The Post on September 07, 2007, published an article, Rule of Law's Minor Domains, by Dr. Khalil Ahmad. The article argues that matters such as the Chief Justice’s reference, uniformed president’s election, former prime minister’s exile, etc., are considered as the major domains of the rule of law. But the daily grievances of common people are ignored and not even taken as minor domains of the rule of law. The truth is that these ‘major domains’ are, in fact, subservient to the ‘minor domains’. The government and its machinery and apparatus are meant for the security and protection of the people of this country. The day-to-day problems, grievances and injustices that the common people are made to suffer are not rule of law’s minor domains, they are the most important and major domains of the rule of law. And they must be treated as such.
Here is the link to the article:
http://thepost.com.pk/Arc_OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=116610&catid=11&date=09...
MEDIA RELEASE:
PAKISTAN CLIMBS THE LADDER OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM –
ECONOMIC FREEDOM REPORT 2007
Pakistan climbs the ladder of Economic Freedom scoring 6 points ranking 101 out of 141 countries; leaps big in Legal Structure and Security of Property Rights area by improving from 2.5 to 4.4; loses big in Access in Sound Money by sliding down from 6.4 to 6.0
India inches up from 6.5 to 6.6; Hong Kong and Singapore rated best for economic freedom, Zimbabwe and Myanmar rank worst
Lahore September 07, 2007: Hong Kong once again tops international rankings for economic freedom, with Singapore a close second and New Zealand in third spot, according to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2007 Annual Report, released today by Pakistan’s first free market think tank, Alternate Solutions Institute.
Pakistan ranked 101 out of 141 countries this year, after ranking 91 (out of 130 countries) in the last year’s report. In 2006 Report Pakistan scored 5.7 points out of 10; while this year its scored leapt to 6.0. The areas that improved Pakistan’s overall performance are: size of government; legal structure and security of property rights; and, freedom to trade internationally. The areas in which Pakistan lost a lot are: access to sound money; and, regulation of credit, labor, and business.
The annual peer-reviewed report uses 42 different measures to create an index ranking countries around the world based on policies that encourage economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and security of private property.
Research shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity, greater individual freedoms, and longer life spans. These measures are part of a fundamental base needed to build a free and prosperous nation. A quick glance at the names of countries scoring lowest on the index quickly shows that without protection of property rights and judicial independence, there is little individual freedom and little in the way of prosperity.
Pakistan scores in key components of economic freedom (from 1 to 10 where a higher value indicates a higher level of economic freedom):
• Size of government: changed to 7.3 from 7.2 in the last year’s report
• Legal structures and security of property rights: changed to 4.4 from 2.5
• Access to sound money: changed to 6.0 from 6.4
• Freedom to trade internationally: changed to 5.8 from 5.7
• Regulation of credit, labour and business: changed to 6.3 from 6.5
For more information, please visit:
http://asinstitute.org/page.php?instructions=page&page_id=687&nav_id=93
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WHY BRIDGES BUILT WITH SOCIALIST CAPITAL COLLAPSE?
By William L. Anderson
[This article was first posted on August 15, 2007 on http://www.mises.org. William Anderson, an adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute, teaches economics at Frostburg State University, Maryland, USA]
The horrific bridge collapse in Minnesota has brought its share of news and commentary, much of it predictable. For example, the New York Times, which is relentless in its insistence that society is improved only through the growth of state power, wrote what essentially is a front-page editorial calling for higher taxes in Minnesota:
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 6: “In the past two years, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota twice vetoed legislation to raise the state's gas tax to pay for transportation needs.
Now, with at least five people dead in the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge here, Mr. Pawlenty, a Republican, appears to have had a change of heart.
"He's open to that," Brian McClung, a spokesman for the governor, said Monday of a higher gas tax. "He believes we need to do everything we can to address this situation and the extraordinary costs."
Thus, we see the theme of the story: another tight-fisted Republican gives in to the reality that only higher taxes will provide safe bridges and roads. In other words, it is only a matter of taxation and money spent that determines things like bridge safety. Moreover, one would expect that the Times and others on its side would hold that privately owned bridges would be even more dangerous, since they seem to believe that profit-minded owners would skimp on safety in their relentless search to become even wealthier.
(This pretty much is the argument that the Times and its resident socialist, Paul Krugman, maintain about medical care. Private medical care, they argue, is more expensive, since doctors and hospitals need to "make a profit." Turn everything over to the state, which can operate without profits, and cost-savings magically appear, with even better care for everyone.)
Certainly the incentive issue is important. Brad Edmonds (http://www.mises.org/story/2668) and Thomas Sowell (http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/ThomasSowell/2007/08/07/a_bridge_too_...) both dealt with the problems of incentives that politicians and bureaucrats face when determining where to spend tax monies. Yet the reason that we see this kind of deterioration in government-owned roads goes deeper than just the incentive problems, as important as they are. Indeed, we are seeing yet another example of the real problem of socialism, as Ludwig von Mises and the Austrians have been pointing out for nearly a century: the problem of economic calculation, and especially how socialism almost always leads to a depleted and obsolete capital stock.
The mainstream economic paradigm tends to treat capital stock as a given, something that magically appears in the equation whenever economists wish to put together a mathematical equation that explains Everything We Need To Know about economics. Indeed, this was the approach that the socialists took in arguing with Mises and F.A. Hayek in the "Socialist Calculation Debate" of the 1930s and beyond.
Yet, capital and capital stock are not simply givens. Capital must come from somewhere, and the laws of economics apply to capital as they do everywhere else. Capital formation can be explained through economic analysis, as the Austrians well demonstrate.
For example, in the first chapter of his groundbreaking 1871 Principles of Economics, Carl Menger points out that advances in wealth and civilization are due not necessarily to advances in division of labor (as Adam Smith had said a century earlier), but rather to capital, or higher-order goods:
“In its most primitive form, a collecting economy is confined to gathering those goods of lowest order that happen to be offered by nature. Since economizing individuals exert no influence on the production of these goods, their origin is independent of the wishes and needs of men, and hence, so far as they are concerned, accidental. But if men abandon this most primitive form of economy, investigate the ways in which things may be combined in a causal process for the production of consumption goods, take possession of things capable of being so combined, and treat them as goods of higher order, they will obtain consumption goods that are as truly the results of natural processes as the consumption goods of a primitive collecting economy, but the available quantities of these goods will no longer be independent of the wishes and needs of men. Instead, the quantities of consumption goods will be determined by a process that is in the power of men and is regulated by human purposes within the limits set by natural laws. Consumption goods, which before were the product of an accidental concurrence of the circumstances of their origin, become products of human will, within the limits set by natural laws, as soon as men have recognized these circumstances and have achieved control of them. The quantities of consumption goods at human disposal are limited only by the extent of human knowledge of the causal connections between things, and by the extent of human control over these things. Increasing understanding of the causal connections between things and human welfare, and increasing control of the less proximate conditions responsible for human welfare, have led mankind, therefore, from a state of barbarism and the deepest misery to its present stage of civilization and well-being, and have changed vast regions inhabited by a few miserable, excessively poor, men into densely populated civilized countries. Nothing is more certain than that the degree of economic progress of mankind will still, in future epochs, be commensurate with the degree of progress of human knowledge.”
As Menger painstakingly points out in his Principles, the valuation that individuals place upon the goods of lowest order (i.e., consumer goods) ultimately will determine the value of the higher-order goods, or what economists call the factors of production. This relationship is what permits the entrepreneur and business owner to calculate the value of capital goods, something that Mises and others said was not possible under a socialist regime.
Furthermore, within a private property order, capital is an asset. That is because the capital ultimately produces the consumer goods that provide profits to the entrepreneurs, and it is here where the owners of capital goods have an incentive to keep capital in good repair.
Under socialism, as I have argued elsewhere (http://www.mises.org/story/1031), capital becomes a liability, not an asset. That is because capital brings no income to its owners; once it is established, it is just another good that needs to be maintained. That is why the communist nations seemed to be in a time warp, as socialist authorities had no reason to modernize or even maintain capital beyond minimal standards.
For example, automobiles manufactured in East Germany in 1990, just before the country disappeared as a political entity, were based upon the 1948 models. Since no profits were made on automobiles like the Wartburgs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_(car)) (which resembled go-carts at best), and since the East German government did not want too many of its citizens to enjoy the relative freedom that automobiles provided, there was no reason for the government to modernize its capital stock in automobile factories.
Lest the reader think that it is too great a leap to compare a collapsing bridge in Minneapolis with the now-defunct East German Wartburg, think again. Neither the US government nor the State of Minnesota, which jointly "own" the bridge that collapsed, received "profits" from that bridge. Once it was built, it represented pure cost to these governments.
Thus, we then see the sets of incentives of which both Edmonds and Sowell spoke now making more sense. The owners of a privately owned bridge would have the incentive to keep it in repair because the bridge is bringing them income; loss of that piece of capital is the loss of the income that flows from it. Therefore, we see the economic calculation for privately owned capital at work.
Governments, on the other hand, operate according to a very different economic calculus. Since the bridge does not bring an income to the state, at least directly, it is much easier for politicians to want to spend on those things that provide fame, glory, and votes. In fact, in a perverse way, the bridge collapse in Minnesota provides a benefit to politicians, since they now have an excuse to confiscate even more taxes from individuals, thus expanding the power of the state.
Yes, there will be some short-term lawsuits that will follow, but no one who actually was responsible for the sorry maintenance record of the bridge will pay a penny, since when the state is sued, liability ultimately falls upon the taxpayers, not the politicians and bureaucrats.
As we can see from the New York Times article, raising taxes in the wake of the bridge collapse will provide a political benefit to the governor of Minnesota, since he will be seen as trying to "be responsible." However, the real problem is the fact that under socialism, the economic calculus is perverse and 180 degrees away from what would be economic calculation in a world of private property.
One doubts, however, that the Times ever will editorialize against socialism, and certainly not road and bridge socialism. Yet, the Austrians once again are able to understand not only why the bridge was so poorly maintained that it collapsed, but also why this incident will repeat itself over and over again. [Courtesy Ludwig von Mises Institute, USA]
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FREEDOM, DEVELOPMENT AND FASCISM
By Tibor R. Machan
[Tibor R. Machan is a Hoover research fellow, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Auburn University, Alabama, and holds the R. C. Hoiles Endowed Chair in Business Ethics and Free Enterprise at the Argyros School of Business & Economics, Chapman University.]
Now and then I read that freedom – protection of the unalienable rights to private property, freedom of trade, free speech, etc. – are not needed for economic development because in some countries, such as Singapore, there is ample and vigorous economic development under a substantially fascist regime, one that does not protect individual rights – especially the right to freedom of speech and press. And technically in some countries, even in the USA, plenty of economic growth can co-exist with serious government interventionism.
Does this not conflict with the libertarian notion that freedom is indivisible? If all kinds of good things can come from governmental tyrannies, petty or Draconian, why bother about freedom? Why not just worry about whether the government properly manages the economy?
It is true enough that in some countries a substantially tyrannical state has managed to generate good numbers in the economic realm. Yet is that the whole story? Isn’t it rather that where free markets are at least permitted to operate, there is likely to be economic development? Yes, that isn’t exactly what free markets are supposed to amount to – namely, conditions that governments permit to prevail. But as with parents who provide considerable room for their children’s personal responsibility to flourish, without fully letting go of their ultimate authority, so such countries do mimic freedom sufficiently to produce results that are close to what would occur within a fully free society.
Back when Chile was run by general Pinochet, it was the most successful economy in Latin America. No one could argue that the country was free, certainly not by libertarian standards. Yet when Pinochet consulted with the Chicago boys who advised him to stop interfering with the market, to allow trade to proceed unimpeded, the result was something close to a free market system and led, not unexpectedly, to healthy economic developments.
There is no doubt that the conditions of a fully free society can be approximated in countries that are ruled by people who recognize that micromanaging people is counterproductive. It was the philosopher Baruch Spinoza who started to speculate along these lines, insisting that a powerful government would do far better to ease up on dictating how the people should live. Recognizing what later became the essence of public choice theory – for which James Buchanan received the Nobel Prize in economics – Spinoza began to challenge the ideas of such thinkers as Thomas Hobbes who believed that a healthy country needs a hands on dictator. On the contrary, what works much better is when the people themselves are in substantial charge of their lives. (Spinoza, by the way, applied this notion to freedom of religion and speech, as well! But he hadn’t yet defended the Lockean notion that individual actually have the right to be free, only that letting them be free is sound public policy.)
So, then, what about the idea that dictatorship or substantial governmental intervention in the lives of citizens need not stymie economic growth and other desirable developments in a country? Sure, that’s right, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The policies of such a government must approximate those of a fully free country, especially as far as how the economy is governed.
It also needs to be noted in this connection that freedom is not a guarantee of all things turning out well in the world. Free men and women can go wrong on numerous fronts. The point of freedom isn’t merely to encourage success on various fronts in a society but to place governance into the hands in which it belongs, the sovereign individual in voluntary cooperation with his and her fellow individuals. In the long run, of course, this is far more likely to produce the good things we all tend to want from community life. But the issue is, first and foremost, that such community life be voluntary, not coerced.
As Abraham Lincoln noted about the American system, it " . . . [h]as a philosophical cause. Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwined itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle “Liberty for all” – the principle that clears the path to all – gives hope to all – and, by consequences, enterprise, and industry to all."
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Issue of the Month: Judiciary’s Moment of Redemption
PAST AND PRESENT
[Mujahid Hussain Memon, Shikarpur]
It was my past when I would enjoy in the streets of my village Shikarpur, and walk in the historical streets. I would go to tubewells for bathing, parks for playing, and get together with my friends late night. People are happy when they tell about their villages, but I’m not, because my village is facing blood and tears and no one is ready to improve this situation in order to let the people live with happy style. Bloody tribal clashes between the communities, around and outside the city are taking place. Citizens are being harassed and frequently pray not to see any unhappy occurrence. Is there any one whom the citizens could turn for their problems? They can’t ask for help Judiciary because judiciary was also victimized. The situation will affect them and their offspring’s, especially their culture, living, status, education, health and so on. I request the higher authorities to bring back peace and humanity in the District. [Pakistan Observer]
LET JUSTICE BE SERVED
[Sharif A. Ansri, Karachi]
The Supreme Court judgment restoring the Chief Justice has been hailed the world over. But it has left behind some intriguing questions yet unanswered:
1. What action is the Supreme Court going to take against those who, as was proved, had bugged the rooms as well as homes of the Judges of not just the SC but also the High Courts? What is the guarantee that the rooms are not bugged any more?
2. What action is the Supreme Court going to take against those very high officials such the Chief of staff to the President, the ISI chief, the chief of Ml, the Chief of the CBR and so many others who filed fake, incriminating affidavits on oath against the Chief Justice? How can people with such dubious character be allowed to occupy such important offices?
3. Justice will not be done until affirmative action is taken by the Supreme Court on these issues. [The Nation]
'PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE SUPREME COURT'
[Tooba Alam, Karachi]
I have no reason to disagree with what Naeem Bokhari wrote in his above-titled article published on Sept 24. One fails to understand why otherwise rational people approved of public rallies in front of the Supreme Court building. The recent statement by the Jamaat-e-Islami chief casting doubt on the credibility and impartiality of the superior court judges can only be called shameful. It was nothing but a display of the intolerance prevalent in our society.
Mr Bokhari's views carry more weight in view of the recent show of street power which actually subdued the members of a Sindh High Court bench hearing the May 12 killings case. It's time we heeded the repercussions of pressuring the judiciary. People should remember that neutrality and fairness would vanish from the judicial system if public support were to be the deciding factor in litigation. [The News]
INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY
[Amjad Mahesar, Islamabad]
Parliament and judiciary are the main pillars of the democratic state. If anyone of these is powerless, the state cannot remain democratic. In the history of Pakistan, the judiciary has often been used like a puppet by the rulers.
For example, former Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was dismissed by Nawaz Sharif without any recourse to law. But now the situation is quite different. Musharraf dismissed chief justice Ch. Iftikhar on weak legal grounds but within a few months, the Supreme Court restored the Chief Justice.
After this landmark decision, the judiciary has become a challenge for the rulers. The judiciary has taken many praiseworthy and laudable actions after that.
The Sindh High Court’s suo moto action against the events of May 12 in Karachi is the most recent example. After the abovementioned step by the Sindh High Court, the stabilizing role and the independence of judiciary has been established beyond doubt. [The Nation]
THE EXECUTIVE MUST OBEY THE COURT
[Q Isa Daudpota, Islamabad]
In February 2006, in the case “Moulvi Iqbal Haider vs CDA and others”, the Supreme Court ordered that commercial activities in public parks violated Article 26 of the Constitution and was contrary to the by-laws of Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority (CDA). The Court revoked the lease granted by CDA to Mr Shah Sharabeel to build and operate a mini golf course in the F-7 Jubilee Park. This followed an effective campaign against the project by Fauzia Minallah, a local artist.
Further, the Court ordered CDA to start disciplinary action against staff responsible for executing the lease. The reason this has almost certainly not been done is that such a lease must have had the blessing of Mr Kamran Lashari, the CDA chairman who is a crony of Mr Sharabeel. Also, nothing has been done by the CDA yet to bring back the park to its original condition after building work was stopped, what to talk of it being improved! This shows the sulkiness of the CDA and its chairman at having their plans squashed. It has deprived the people of the nearby crowded slum, euphemistically called the “French Colony”, of their only public space. This park also offered valuable open space for the houses in this posh neighbourhood and for shoppers at the F-7 Markaz.
This lack of care for an existing park made worse by CDA’s arrogant disregard for the Court’s ruling, led to it giving a lease to McDonald’s (of which the Lakson Group holds the franchise) to cut out a large chunk of the Fatima Jinnah Park for selling unhealthy fast food. When the Chief Justice was removed from his position, Mr Sharabeel publicly insulted him and his golf course decision in a public gathering.
The Court has failed to get its ruling implemented in letter and spirit by the executive in Islamabad. This is also true for the demolition of 150 dangerous high-rise buildings in Murree, several that the Court had ordered to be destroyed 8 years ago!
The justices must spend time ensuring that their past decisions and orders are respected. They should also improve the Court’s complaints section that receives nearly 700 letters daily, for which its antiquated system is grossly inadequate. [Daily Times]
NOT A DAY MORE
[A.M. Ali, Sahiwal]
The judicial movement is not over. It goes on due to the legendary commitment of its pioneers. Its message is now trickling down into the military apparatus due to obduracy of the military regime which intends to hold on to power till the bitter end.
The fact that senior army officials are involved in holding political parleys for a ‘deal’ in London is against the rules, against the very spirit of the supremacy of rule of law, constitution and the principle of non-interference of military in national body politic.
Allowing this unconstitutional practice to be accepted as a norm by according the status of the official Presidential emissary to these officials is uncalled for.
The judicial movement, the border situation in North & Balochistan, poor law and order, Karachi mayhem, scams of everything from stocks, to real estate markets etc are the gifts of Musharraf rule. Political polarization, weakest ever federal structure, killing of hundreds of innocent children and young girls are some others.
A leader whose appearance in public requires jamming of traffic for hours due to security reasons, costing the nation billions in a year; one who cannot walk ten feet without this huge and costly security apparatus, deserves not a day more. [The Nation]
LAW OF NECESSITY
[Nusrat Bokhari, Rawalpindi]
The judges of the Supreme Court have made some pertinent remarks while hearing the petitions of Qazi Husain Ahmad and Imran Khan. These include remarks on important issues like the law of necessity and the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. There has been much discussion in the media and press on the legal aspects of the prevailing political situation in the country. The judges' remarks on the law of necessity were like a breath of fresh air. It is the spirit of the 1973 Constitution that has suffered most. So much so that as a result of the mutilating changes made in it after 1999 have virtually left it more presidential than parliamentary.
"If" elected president, Pervez Musharraf would doff his uniform but stay on as chief of the army staff until another man is appointed to the post by the incumbent president. In view of Gen Musharraf's takeover of Oct 12, what is to prevent him from taking the same action if the incumbent president tries to appoint someone in his place? After the Nawaz Sharif episode of Sept 10, no one in his right mind would expect Gen Musharraf to abide by any ruling of the Supreme Court if it does not suit him.
One hopes that the state will not overlook the aspirations of the nation with regard to the spirit of the Constitution, and hold the document supreme. [The News]
LET’S REVIEW CONTEMPT
[Khalid A., London UK]
It is high time that ‘contempt of court’ was clearly defined, in Pakistan. In the case of British courts, one hardly ever hears of contempt proceedings. Generally, court decisions here are freely discussed and sometimes even criticised roundly. In case of Pakistan, old Supreme Court decisions have been thoroughly criticised starting from Justice Munir to Justice Anwarul Haq to the present incumbent. But any current decision is considered sacrosanct, as if one can freely criticise the past conduct of the court but cannot displease a sitting judge. [The Nation]
PILLARS OF THE STATE
[Mohammad Ahmad, Karachi]
This has a reference to a news item, ‘No one can violate verdicts’: CJ’, wherein the chief justice of Pakistan declared: “The decisions given by the superior courts were public property.” Hence 160 million eyes are glued on the Supreme Court and High Courts with awe and adoration presumptuously rejoicing and thinking that panacea of all societal evils has ultimately been found; however, it must urgently been realised that the judiciary is one of various pillars of the state having its own in-born limitations. If the growing tendency of overburdening this pillar, emanating from all corners, is not curtailed soonest and the weight is not evenly distributed on other pillars, time is not far off when it would be near impossible to save the ship of the state from capsizing – God forbid. Events are unfolding rapidly in such a manner that elites get flabbergasted easily. These are the times when the defining moments arrive and the weak-hearted cling to ‘status quo’ malaise. When I read M.M. Khan’s letter, ‘Beggary of a different kind’, an idea came to my mind that the State Bank of Pakistan, being a primary and independent institution of the country, could comfortably provide a helping hand to the top adjudicators.
Mr Khan has vehemently lamented about the colossal loss to the state in the shape of write-offs and no recoveries. If the State Bank reopens the said cases, for instance Rs33 billion’s worth of written-off bank loans could be bifurcated into the principal amounts and mark-up/interest amounts respectively. Later full recovery proceedings may be initiated against the chronic borrowers/defaulters stressing that the money falling in the former category would always remain public property; whereas the latter may be permitted as written-off heretofore.
These remedial procedures would conform to the relevant SC 2000 verdict. It may be recalled that Lt-Gen Amjad’s NAB recovered Rs24 billion, when Gen Musharraf was CEO; on the contrary the Central Board of Revenue doled out Rs74 billion tax refund. I have a hunch that tallying the subject files may reveal colossal public money if the two departments cooperate to take remedial measures as per the SBP pattern proposed. May Almighty give us the strength to rise above our petty interests. [Pakistan Observer]
OUR GREATEST FAILURE
[Khalil Ahmad, Lahore]
On the night of August 22, in the Aaj TV talk show there was an interesting debate. The anchorperson introduced the participants as ‘thinking minds’ who were present for stocktaking of the past 60 years and to talk about our ‘sterling achievement’ and ‘striking failure’. But it was disappointing to listen to the opinions expressed by the ‘thinking minds’. Most of them just parroted cliches. They were not clear-headed at all about the most clear and pertinent question of all: what is the finest achievement of Pakistan and what is our greatest failure.
To me, the frame of reference is the citizens of Pakistan. Regardless of why Pakistan was established, or what this or that leader said, a country is established for the betterment of its entire people, not for a particular group or community. A country is not made for a government, a government is formed for the people of a country. I think we have had no achievement in 60 years to boast of, only failures to be ashamed of. The greatest, most striking failure of all is that the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, provided in the constitution, were never given to them. [The Nation]
LEAVING NO DOUBTS
[Shams Z. Abbas, Lahore]
While the independence of the judiciary is to be welcomed, a perception seems to be developing in government circles that pent-up animosities are finding an outlet through the judgments. The statement of Dr Sher Afghan is a case in point. This is obviously not true, but sometimes perceptions leave a more profound impact than reality. Everything the government says or does is not correct and everything that the opposition is doing is right after the events of March 9.
For all institutions to be respected, it is important that the operational parameters be respected. A war of words can well lead to greater conflict amongst the institutions which has to be prevented at all costs. The Sajjad Ali Shah versus PML-N versus Farooq Leghari war is one recent example.
Let history remind us about acting maturely, dispassionately and keeping the national and international implications in mind rather than just the imperatives of public opinion which often is in conflict with circumstantial evidence. Paradoxically, the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by the Supreme Court is a reverse case scenario which did not take into view the massive adverse public opinion against the judgment. The administration of justice must not leave any doubts, ethnic biases, political preferences or perceived revenge exploding through letter or words. [Dawn]
STORMING THE SHC
[Kazim Aizaz Alam, Karachi]
It is not surprising that MQM activists stormed the Sindh High Court premises on Sept 10 and openly attempted to influence the proceedings of the May 12 killings case. The bench hearing the case was so threatened that it adjourned the proceedings for one week after summoning the counsels for the two sides inside the judges’ chambers. Maybe Altaf Bhai thought that since both the Bar and the Bench had already experienced the street power in their struggle to restore the chief justice of Pakistan, it would be possible to coerce them once again. What a shame. [Daily Times]
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Issue of the Month: Making the Bridge Collapse
TRAGEDY ON NORTHERN BYPASS
[Dr Mumtaz A. Uqaili, Thatta]
The bridge of Northern Bypass in Karachi collapsed causing loss of precious lives and grave damage to the national exchequer. This gigantic project was inaugurated at a ceremony by no less than a person who is the president and Chief of Army Staff, Gen Pervez Musharraf. He is all-powerful, ruling the country for past eight years and wants to return for next term. Now everyone, from Sindh chief minister to the Karachi city nazim, is shunning responsibilities.
According to common sense, the major responsibility lies upon the contractor, engineers and the men in office of the organisation that gave the contract and was responsible for quality control, and their cronies. As per common sense, the work was not according to specifications and design. There must be lack of steel, cement and other material that caused the collapse in such a short time.
Such projects are supposed to be made for generations to come. This catastrophe reveals that state of affairs in the construction for which the city nazim and others have been boasting around. Here I feel that a court martial and summary trial should take on the responsible people and award them an exemplary punishment. [Dawn]
BRIDGE COLLAPSE IN KARACHI
[Engr. Khalid Rashid Quraishi, Karachi]
I request the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the tragic collapse of a section of the Northern Bypass. It should ask all those involved in the construction of the said bridge to appear before it and explain the questions that arise from the collapse. It should also ensure that all existing bridges are checked for any structural defect and that the consultants certify to the quality and mix of the construction materials used. [The News]
TRAGEDY ON NORTHERN BYPASS
[Shayan Manzar, Lahore]
The collapse of the 1.2 km Shershah bridge in Karachi is yet another manifestation of the callous disregard for human lives by the authorities. In a telling revelation, the NHA released a statement that the bridge was completed two years ago but had developed a ‘fault’ which was rectified after hiring foreign consultants (presumably to provide post facto legitimacy to negligence and incompetence) and was opened on an ‘experimental’ basis for traffic. Exactly who were meant to be the subject of this experiment? The people who died on Saturday?
This bridge was reportedly inaugurated by Gen Musharraf on Aug 6 and in less than a month it has collapsed. The NHA further informs us that the contractor for this bridge was the National Logistics Cell (NLC).
According to Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s book, Military Inc., this organisation was created in 1978 to handle a wheat shortage crisis in the country and directly reports to GHQ. Now it is a transportation behemoth. What qualifications does it have to build bridges?
Maybe the correct person to answer this would be the NHA chairman who incidentally is a major-general of the army. A criminal case should be registered against the appropriate people of the NLC. It has been reported that Gen Musharraf has ordered a probe into the incident. Would he call to account those who are considered his own? [Dawn]
BRIDGE TRAGEDY
[Kashif Hameed, Karachi]
The collapse of a section of the Northern Bypass bridge in Shershah in Karachi on Saturday raises the question unrelated to the bridge itself: How many of the flyovers built in Karachi and other Pakistani cities will face similar disasters? The bridge, built by the government's National Highway Authority, was brand new, inaugurated by President Pervez Musharraf less than a month ago, on August 6, to be exact.
Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim declared that those responsible for the tragedy, in which at ten people have so far been reported dead, could not be pardoned. While he is at it, let him also look for the officials who decided to give the NOC for the opening of the bridge despite the discovery of structural faults months ago in exactly the same section that buckled under the traffic and fell.
If the chief minister really meant what he said, those responsible shouldn't be as hard to find as those who left the faults, in the first place. A photograph was printed in a newspaper after the recent rains, and it was evident that this structure is also no way safe as there were leakages because of the gaps in its section. These chinks were alarmingly visible in the picture.
Then there are faults of a different kind: not dangerous, perhaps, but highly uncomfortable for passengers because of the unevenness of the joined sections. When I use the Shahrah-e-Quaideen flyover on Sharea Faisal, I gasp from the jarring during the ride. Granted that there is inefficiency, corruption, lack of rules and regulations, and therefore lack of accountability in cases of disaster in this country. It is also a known fact that the threats and warnings given to those whom the chief minister is determined not to pardon are strictly for the media. Maybe despite all the corruption and inefficiency our bridges still wouldn't collapse within a month of their inauguration if the builders were more capable. [The News]
TRAGEDY ON NORTHERN BYPASS
[Rana Imran, Islamabad]
A common Pakistani has perhaps become accustomed to limitless cruelty of its civic bodies, ruling elite and indifference in attitude of our president. It’s really tragic to see so many innocent people, including poor children and women- folk, being crushed to death in the tragedy on Northern Bypass.
I wonder if there is anyone in Pakistan who has any regard for others or if there’s anyone who performs his work honestly or sincerely. I request Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of this lack of responsibility and set an example for all times to come. I think normal citizens of Pakistan have only two options before them: either to stand up for their rights or else please wait for the day when they have to also pass over or under such marvels of Pakistani engineering. [Dawn]
BRIDGE COLLAPSE
[Dr Waheed, Peshawar]
The fall of a bridge in Karachi on September 1 that was inaugurated by none other than the president of Pakistan himself, just a month before, reminds me of a similar although less tragic story. Malakand Tunnel, located in the mountains of Malakand Agency, was made by the Britishers almost a century ago. A few "experts" suggested a few years back that since the tunnel was too old, an alternate route must be made for transport of vehicles. Thus millions of rupees were spent and a new road, which bypassed the tunnel, was made. It was opened to public transport proudly only to be closed again, forever, since serious technical mistakes were found that rendered it imminently dangerous. It was decided that the old Malakand Tunnel would be used again. The tunnel is in perfect shape to this day and it is hoped that it will remain the same even after another century.
The collapse of the bridge in Karachi that took the life of several people is unfortunate. And raises a multitude of questions. What is the surety that other similar bridges constructed in the same era and by, more or less, the same people are not likely to collapse too? The bridge had faults that had been pointed out earlier, was it not the responsibility of the concerned people to take notice of the issue? I believe the government at this point should conduct an inquiry into the incident and should bring all those responsible to justice. [The News]
‘KAMAL KA BRIDGE’
[Amberina Imran, Karachi]
The city government has been singing claims about giving Karachi numerous uplifting projects during its tenure. Whether the projects are uplifting or just face-lifting is an open secret. The recent bridge collapse, responsibility for which no one is ready to accept, was the very bridge Mustafa Kamal claimed was his proudest achievement.
He told a TV channel recently that he was proud that people could get from Lalukhet to Shershah in just 12 minutes compared to the previous time of over an hour. Well, not only has Mr Kamal made the journey from Lalukhet to Shershah shorter, he has also made the journey to Heaven from anywhere in Karachi much quicker. [Dawn]
BRIDGE COLLAPSE
[Fauzia Minallah, Islamabad]
Hardly a month ago the bridge was inaugurated as a "symbol of the economic prosperity of Pakistan'. How the citizens of Pakistan are taken for a ride! Will those responsible ever be brought to justice? Will the Supreme Court be the only institution for the people to expect 'justice' from or will the Government make sure those involved in the corruption and playing with the lives of people are put behind bars. How long will we be fooled by this farce of 'Mega Projects for Economic Prosperity', billions of rupees in the hands of the corrupt mafia.
How can we expect the other mega projects carried out lately, in one of the most corrupt nations of the world, are safe. This insatiable greed of the Mafia is criminal and this is the ugliest and most vulgar face of those who rule us, and there is no hope from any other leader of the political parties will be any better. It is the citizens who will suffer. [The News]
NORTHERN BYPASS BRIDGE
[M. Z. Jafri, Karachi]
The recently-collapsed portion at Shershah crossing was the most delayed part of the Northern Bypass bridge. The completion of this particular portion had taken more than a year which indicates that the NLC was facing some design problems at this particular juncture.
As a layman and frequent user of this bypass I often wondered at the radii given at this portion. It was a sharp turn spread over around half kilometre which seemed an uphill task for the heavy vehicles. Furthermore the NLC recently made a speed breaker in the middle of this part to avoid over speeding by heavy vehicles.
It seems that this speed breaker played a key role in failure of this bridge. The application of brakes by every heavy vehicle at this speed breaker (which was in the middle of the radii) under the influence of sharp turning led to some unbalanced forces whose thrust was centrifugal in nature. This phenomenon was so frequent that it ultimately forced the bridge to bend over and collapse. This speed breaker was made only about a month before.
Now it is for the inquiry committee to judge the NLC working. I can only request them to also witness the collapsed walls of the bridge which is six to eight kilometres away from Shershah. This bridge was built at the intersection of the Northern Bypass and Hub River Road. The recent downpour caused slipping of the walls along with protecting stones of this bridge, though it was provided adequate protection against flowing waters.
What is more painful is that even when the bypass was in use for the last three to four months, nobody bothered to repair the dilapidated Hub River Road. Today, in the absence of the Northern Bypass, this road becomes a crucial artery connecting Karachi to Quetta. But is this road worthy of withstanding the load of heavy traffic?
We can only hope that the area nazim after reading this letter takes a ride from Shershah to Quetta bus stand on this road. He will then be in a position to arrange some squeezed budget to get this Hub River Road in a travel-worthy condition. [Dawn]
BRIDGE COLLAPSE
[Dildar Ahmed Qazi, Islamabad]
A Scottish Engineer designed a railway bridge that collapsed when a train was passing through killing all the hundred passengers. The engineer's last name was 'Botch'. The term 'botched' therefore was coined. The flyover in Karachi built by the NHA and NLC collapsed when a trailer was passing through it. Isn't it time for a new term to be coined? [The News]
NORTHERN BYPASS BRIDGE
[Hasan Adil Malik, Karachi]
The sudden collapse of the Northern Bypass bridge has raised several questions about the safe standards, quality of material used and durability of all flyovers, underpasses and roads already constructed and being used as well as about all those projects still under process of construction at different locations under the development programme of Karachi by the city district government of Karachi.
Whosoever is directly or indirectly responsible for this tragedy must be exposed to justice without fear and favour of any one regardless of his status. To avoid repetition of such incidents, the following measures have to be ensured:
a. Review of development plan and re-inspection of the site of all projects, newly constructed and under construction in Karachi.
b. Round-the-clock stationing of professional engineers at the site of each project under process of construction to ensure the fulfilment of the required standards.
c. Positioning of all required equipment at site to operate the rescue work, demolition of all old or newly-constructed projects constructed with imitated material and found below safety standard, if any, anywhere in Karachi.
d. Put the names of defaulters of the current incident on the ECL to ensure their apprehension.
e. Ensuring alternative way out with demarcation of boundaries, lighting of detours as a precautionary measure at the site of construction to minimise inconvenience to citizens.
The Jauhar Bridge in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, constructed more than a decade before and in frequent use of all kinds of light and heavyweight vehicles, is in a dilapidated condition and poses danger to the safety of citizens passing over it, requiring immediate review and inspection of the site.
There are many other projects under process of construction all over the city, including Gulistan-i-Jauhar, where no professional engineers are available to supervise the progress of work while unskilled labour is attending to jobs in a disorganised manner and no alternative way out arranged at site of dug- up trenches, causing inconvenience to citizens, in general, and residents, in particular. The current incident as an eye opener for all authorities concerned to review the development work in Karachi, keeping in view the safety of citizens. [Dawn]
WHO IS TO BLAME?
[Mustafa Ahmed, Karachi]
On Saturday, September 1, at least four persons were killed and several injured when a portion of the Northern Bypass bridge caved in at Paracha Chowk in the Sher Shah area of Karachi. Several vehicles, including a coach with several passengers, went down with the collapsed portion of the bridge and were trapped under the rubble. Who is to blame? Who needs to check the quality of construction work? It seems that nazims and city planners contract out the work to companies arbitrarily.
Now Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, after hurriedly issuing statements of condolences and intended compensation for the affected families, has assigned the task of investigating the incident to our Federal Minister for Communications, since the construction of this bridge falls in his domain. His latest statement is that there is no machinery available anywhere in the world to lift the 4000 tons of debris and that the culprit is any one of the contractors or the consultants. It is honestly disillusioning to see such preventable accidents occurring because of a blatant disregard for human life and the greed and negligence of contractors. [Daily Times]
NORTHERN BYPASS BRIDGE
[Mohammed Nasim Ghauri, Karachi]
The Northern Bypass bridge collapsed merely 20 days after being made operational. It was shocking to note that main contractor M/s NLC was not seen at the project site though the defect liability period of any project is at least one year, as per the standard contract condition after commissioning and handing over of the project.
The NLC should have immediately turned up with their engineers to design and deal with this emergency. Instead the CDGK, the KPT and the Navy were called to deal with the situation though they do not have any knowledge or know-how to deal with such kind of emergency.
In my opinion the main contractor NLC should take full responsibility for this disaster instead of shifting the blame on any other subcontractor and start the dismantling operation after proper designing. It may be noted that after detection of the fault before the foreign experts were called in, a Pakistani expert who is in the field for quite a long time has suggested dismantling the same portion of the bridge and building it again but the suggestion was disregarded. [Dawn]
LOOMING BRIDGE DISASTER
[Muhammad Asif, Jhelum]
Now seems to be an apt time to talk about the bridges of Pakistan. The Old Bridge in Jhelum is Pakistan’s longest bridge. It was built in 1872 under British rule for the railways with an official guarantee of its functionality for one hundred years. The British got it right. It has worked beyond the specified time limit.
About ten years ago the government considered it dangerous and built two more bridges over the river to cater to the increase in traffic and provide an alternate channel for vehicles. However, the railway track passes through the same Old Bridge. The 135 years old bridge trembles every time a train passes over it. The government should pay some attention to build a new railway track on other bridge. [Daily Times]
NORTHERN BYPASS
[Saqib Khan, Karachi]
With the bridge on Northern Bypass collapsing, here is a chance for the media to come out at two levels and truly show how independent they are. The public should know the following and the media should bring it into the open:
— Who were the contractors involved and what were their roles?
— How much were the contracts for?
— Who funded the construction?
— Which officials from the NHA approved the contract?
— How many other projects are these contractors doing with the government and what are these projects?
— Were there feasibility plans for this contract and are they publicly available?
The media should also get hold of the senior management of the NHA and the contractor and interview them about why the tragedy happened. At the second level the media should be investigating the numerous development projects going on around the city and the country.
What are the feasibility studies? Who are the people involved and how much are these contracts for? Journalists then need to editorialise on the feasibility of these projects. As Robert Fisk said that the job of the media is to monitor the centres of powers. They do this to give voice to the people who stand to be affected by the powers that be who make decisions to benefit their own position rather than benefit society. [Dawn]
BUSINESS AS USUAL
[Ahmed Shaeen]
A news item reads: “Out of the two 60-metre spans of the affected portion, of the collapsed Karachi Bridge will be removed while the other half will be demolished. This will be carried out by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) — a sister concern of the National Logistic Cell (NLC). The group commander of the FWO will supervise the removal process”.
I cannot believe how those who black-listed NLC can allow the same culprit company to remove the debris, giving a golden opportunity to eliminate all the evidence of its collapse. And this too is being done under the supervision of a retired army officer. In the first place the NLC should not be allowed even to come near the collapsed structure, a masterpiece of military in business (Milbus, according to Dr Ayesha Siddiqa). This news is an indication that the unfortunate Pakistani nation cannot get rid of the curse of milbus. The words of our first slain prime minister come to mind: “Khuda Pakistan ki hifazat karey”. [Daily Times]
BALOCH COLONY BRIDGE
[Mujeeb Haroon, Karachi]
Regular huge traffic jams and slow movement on the Baloch Colony bridge are quite hazardous. The bridge cannot sustain the load of vehicles in a very slow movement. Some very urgent measures should be taken to protect this bridge.
The most interesting thing is that it is the only bridge which has traffic light signals, and even buses stop over this bridge. Whereas bridges are constructed for fast passing of the vehicles.
The authorities concerned should take this matter very urgently while all vehicles should avoid using this bridge in rush hours. [Dawn]
NO SAFETY STANDARD
[Zahid]
In view of the recent collapse of a bypass bridge in Karachi, I would like to draw the attention of the concerned authorities to the following two examples which are violations of international building bye laws/codes and safety regulations:
(1) Recently while watching a popular Urdu movie in a cinema at the Fortress Stadium, I noticed that the interior layout of spaces was in total negation of the minimum standards to be followed for the design of large public gathering spaces especially from the safety point of view.
The entering public were made to first go down a few steps and after a small transitional space were required to step up again and finally were cramped into two narrow lobbies having two narrow spiral stair cases leading up to a large gallery at the highest level that is approximately three storeys high. No emergency exits are provided except the two mentioned staircases.
One can very well imagine the scenario of public panic in case of emergency in the gallery area leaving the public with only one option of jumping down into the main hall from the railing in front of the lowest level of the gallery or finding one’s way out through the maze of levels and narrow spaces.
(2) In the close vicinity of this cinema, a substantial portion of the space below the Victoria Bridge has been transformed into shops, another case of violation of the public safety standards. [The Nation]
SURVEYING BRIDGES
[Shahjehan S Karim, Karachi]
The cause and consequence of the bridge-disaster at the Northern Bypass hang in the balance amid all the chaos and damage caused by the tragedy. Critical assessment of what went wrong is the need of the hour. Another bridge, a little ahead of the Korangi crossing urgently requires maintenance. It is the only link to schools, colleges and institutions, including CBM, BIZTEK and PAF KIET, industries, factories, refineries and the bustling basti of Ibrahim Hyderi. Heavy vehicular traffic — trucks, loaders, oil tankers, public buses — as well as cars ply daily on it. The condition of the bridge for which vast sums of money have been allocated needs to be addressed seriously and urgently.
The city government closed the Drigh Road fly-over to carry out necessary repairs following the Northern Bypass bridge collapse. The single-track fly-over linking Shahra e Faisal with Rashid Minhas Road was also closed for repair work as a preventive measure. Repair work on Sohrab Goth and Natha Khan bridges is expected to commence in the wake of the Northern Bypass catastrophe. Repair work on Jam Said fly-over in the industrial area is also reported to be in progress. The directives to survey and assess the strength of all the bridges and flyovers are indeed a welcome initiative of the City District Government. [Daily Times]
BRIDGE COLLAPSE
[Irfan Koreshi, Islamabad]
It was extremely insensitive of the NLC to publish a full-page ad in the newspaper about its construction project in Karachi the day after the collapse of its bridge. One would have appreciated a full-page apology from them but nobody is ready to take responsibility in our country. [Dawn]
A BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
[Dr Irfan Zafar, Islamabad
The Northern Bridge Bypass at Sher Shah in Karachi collapsed killing many innocent lives. The bridge was inaugurated by the President on August 6, 2007, just taking almost 25 days to collapse. It seems as if the bridge was constructed for the pedestrians and not for the heavy traffic the way and the time it took to reach it’s unfortunate fate. In any civilized society, the head of the authority responsible for the construction of the bridge would have resigned by now.
However in Pakistan we live by a special moral code of conduct where the only exit from the all powerfull cushy posts is by disgrace instead of dignity. The aftermath of the incident also depicts a very sorry state of affairs of our rescue infrastructure which has almost non-existant heavy machinary at it’s disposal to cater for such an eventuality. To add insult to the injury, the Government immediately announced Rs five lac for the ones who died in the disaster as if money can compensate for any loss of life. Morality (if there is any we are left with) demands resignations and the initiation of an enquiry to punish the culprits (not the lower ranking officials as done by the Government) who have used sub-standard materials to build this structure and have looted the money to build their own private empires.
[Pakistan Observer]
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
[Salman Ahmed, Islamabad]
The collapse of a bridge in Karachi brings to light many issues that need to be addressed. The National Highway Authority (NHA) supervised the project that was conducted by the National Logistics Cell (NLC). The communication ministry detected a fault in the bridge’s design, reported it and was assured that the matter had been handled. The NHA said that the bridge had been cleared for traffic after being carefully observed. Everyone involved in the project bears varying degrees of responsibility for the incident, but the buck has to stop somewhere.
It is also a warning for new development projects being carried out without having a master plan in place. It is criminal that a city like Karachi still does not have a master plan. It is time to step back, take stock of the situation and avert further disasters from taking place.
[The Post]
DISBAND NLC
[Engr Dr Farid A. Malik, Lahore]
NLC (National Logistics Cell) operations have to be disbanded with immediate effect for the safety of the nation. The organization was created for temporary transportation of wheat during the Zia era. In addition to the destruction of the under-designed road network of the country it has destroyed several state institutions including the Pakistan Railways whose freight business has been taken over. Despite lack of appropriate technical know how and equipment it has been awarded contracts without bids which were then sub-contracted to skim profits. According to the Senate Committee the contract for the ill-fated Northern Bypass in Karachi was awarded in July 2002 for Rs 2.4 billion without proper bidding.
After disbanding the operations of NLC, a professional inquiry should be conducted on the formation and conduct of this body. All projects handled by NLC have to be investigated in public safety/interests. [The Nation]
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Issue of the Month: Pricing the Ramazan Package
RAMAZAN AND PRICES
[Tehmina Afridi, Bahawalpur]
Ramazan is here and shopping for groceries has turned into a horror. Prices of flour, oil, milk, fruits and vegetables have been raised by shopkeepers to ensure maximum profits. In all civilised societies the arrival of a religious event is welcomed by ensuring that everyone can participate enthusiastically. In most countries of the west prices are brought down during Christmas season. In many Arab countries, the prices of daily commodities are reduced during Ramadan. But in our country we always witness unprecedented increases in the prices of all commodities during the holy month, especially the edibles. Instead of looking forward to the holy month with religious anticipation and excitement, the average citizen of our country is more worried about meeting his expenses and dreads the arrival of Eid. It is sad that such a sacred month is spent counting pennies instead of nawafil. White-collar employees have either been steadily cutting down on their basic requirements to meet the expenses with in their earnings or simply borrowing heavily, thanks to the loan facilities being provided by many banks.
While the country is in the grip of feverish political activity, it seems no one at the government level is concerned about the plight of the common man. The average citizen of Pakistan is fed up with the hollow political promises made by successive governments. Governments change, but the plight of the average citizen remains the same.
There has been no action on the part of the government to control the skyrocketing prices of food items. The utility stores are mostly running short on supplies. The things available in the stores are also not up to the required standards. Then there is the agony of waiting in queues, especially for the women and the elderly.
The average citizen of this country does not care whether Musharraf doffs his uniform, Benazir Bhutto strikes a deal with the government, Nawaz Sharif returns Pakistan or Maulana Fazlur Rehman makes it to the Prime Minister's House. The common man wants respite from endless price hikes and fulfilment of his basic needs. [The News]
RAMAZAN PACKAGE
[Muhammad Shafique Ahmed, Karachi]
Khalid Mustafa in his letter (Aug 26) has very rightly pointed out that the Ramazan package, as announced by the government, is not going to give any relief to 150 million people of Pakistan. As in existing practice of one month pre-Ramazan duration, the prices of basic food items have already started going up and by the time the holy month comes, they are likely to go skyhigh, causing difficulties and problems for common people.
The government, instead of restricting the sale of products on controlled price at utility stores only, should endeavour to control the prices of basic food items at all open markets and preferably at the source of main supply (wholesale) during Ramazan, so that each layman is easily facilitated in his own locality of residence where no utility store exists. In Saudi Arabia, the businessmen voluntarily drop their profits. A packet of 12 frozen kababs, samosas, spring rolls and various other eatables are offered on a ‘buy- one-get-one-free’ basis, i.e. if you buy one packet, get another packet free. Further, packs of mineral water, cold drink cans, dry packets of dates, yoghurt, milk, bread, fruits and even complete diet hygienically packed are distributed free prior to Iftaar and Sehri at most of streets, in general, and mosques, in particular, for people keeping fast.
In our conditions, the month of Ramazan is eagerly awaited for making money. The market mafia starts hoarding various eatable items prior to Ramazan and bring the same in the market gradually with ever increasing selling rates and exorbitant prices during the last 10 days of Ramazan. While the black marketeers exhibit wilful selfishness, the government, despite its resources to control it, appears helpless. The imams in their Friday lectures should censure all such people who like to hoard food items to make extra profit. [Dawn]
PRICES IN RAMAZAN
[Shoukat Iqbal Khattak, Karachi]
Prices of essential items increase and become unaffordable for poor people particularly in Ramazan. Although the city government has issued a fixed price list to grocers, as well as to fruit and vegetable sellers, no one wants to follow the price list. And as a result, people, especially the poor, remain at the mercy of the grocers and vendors. Everything is being sold for at least Rs15 to 20 more than the usual rate, especially essentials like sugar, milk, meat, ghee and pulses.
According to a press report, the Indian government declared a 50 per cent discount on every item of daily use at the start of Ramazan, and the traders agreed with the government's policy. If they can arrange some relief for their people, why can't traders and grocers in our country do the same? Every year the government promises to maintain prices in this month of fasting and to give a handsome package to the people, but when the month actually starts, it fails to keep its promise. Now the time has come for the authorities concerned to take serious notice against those who are involved in the price hike, and those found guilty should be punished and fined appropriately. [The News]
PRICE HIKE DURING RAMAZAN
[Muhammad Mahtab Bashir, Islamabad]
Price hikes and the holy month of Ramazan walk hand in hand in Pakistan. Irrational increase in prices of edible goods has become a recurrent phenomenon of Ramazan. The measures so far taken to check the upward price spiral by the commerce ministry do not seem adequate. The commerce ministry, which is responsible for maintenance of prices, virtually has no control over the market. The ministry usually holds a formal meeting with traders’ groups urging them to keep prices of essential items constant during Ramazan, but the ground reality is that such advice falls on deaf ears.
The Federal Cabinet recently announced the Ramazan-2007 package, to be provisioned to the people throughout the country by a network of 3,400 utility stores for which the government will bear a subsidy of Rs1490 million. Why has the government restricted this facility to Utility Stores? Why has it not been extended to the open market? There are many areas of the country where no Utility Store exists. Often the quantity and quality of items sold at Utility Stores are unsatisfactory and below standard due to carelessness and misconduct.
The reason the government couldn’t act on time is because it doesn’t have any mechanism to monitor the market and get up-to-date information about the demand and supply of various items, day-to-day retail or wholesale market prices and transportation costs to work out a reasonable price policy to bargain with traders. It is only the importers who have the means and scope to manipulate the market.
The market mafia has started hoarding various products commonly required during Ramazan, which indicates their wayward intentions of black-marketing. Our governmental machinery at the federal, provincial and district levels is a silent spectator and has not yet announced any policy or strategy to control price hikes during Ramazan.
Keeping in view past experiences of traditional black-marketing during Ramazan, the government should fix sale prices and depute officials to ensure the sale of these items at controlled prices in the open market to facilitate all citizens during Ramazan. No person should be allowed to indulge in black-marketing and violators should be punished severely. [Daily Times]
RAMAZAN AND PRICES
[Col (r) Riaz Jafri, Rawalpindi]
A lot of hullabaloo is raised in the press and the media about the increase in the prices of the commodities and items of daily use during the month of Ramazan. This is more or less a regular practice every year and the traders are castigated for such un-Islamic practice. I think, let's not expect much from the Muslim traders in the name of Islam and view the whole matter in the light of the economic laws of supply and demand. If the demand is more generally the prices go up. Though there is yet another school of thought in the business circles that "the increase in sales brings in more profit even at the discounted prices".
Anyway, what I do not understand is, do we Muslims consume more during the month of fasting that there is an increase in the demand? If it is so, are we not negating the very spirit of Ramazan, which ordains two meals a day instead of the three? Why don't our ulema and mushaikh, never tired of preaching Islam, not deliver sermons against over eating (consumption) which is contrary to the spirit of Ramazan? If we consume less there will be lesser demand and the prices will come down automatically. Next, what is still more intriguing is why are the prices in the western world reduced during Christmas and people offered special Christmas sales at very affordable prices? I think they want everyone to rejoice, even the poorest. How Islamic is their thought behind their Christmas celebrations? I wish we could learn something from them. [The News]
TIGHT POCKETS IN RAMADAN
[Muhammad Atif Shuja, Multan]
Every year, the holy month of Ramadan arrives with countless blessings. One curse, however, is that prices sky-rocket. The government announces plans to control the price hike every year, but they barely make any difference to the situation on the ground and I doubt things will be any different this year. There should be severe punishment for hoarders which will also serve as a lesson for others. The government should ensure that pricing in retail stores is transparent and in-line with directives. Utility Stores should provide goods at the subsidised rates and at proper timings. Furthermore, there should also be a check on the quality of consumer items as well as the standards of weights and measures in the market. The government should also consider introducing a “Consumer Rights Protection Act” as is the case in developed countries. Most importantly, the government must take action against the manufacturers, traders and industrialists to demolish the artificial inflation prevalent in the country right now. [Daily Times]
PRICE HIKE
[M Zahid Rifat, Lahore]
Every year before the advent of the holy month, the federal government announces a Ramazan package for provision of essential items of daily use on subsidised rates through the network of utility stores. It is also announced by the management of the Utility Stores Corporation that people would be free to buy flour, rice, sugar and other basic commodities at subsidised rates. However, the real story with regard to utility stores is altogether different.
All the good intentions of President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the federal government to provide at least some relief to the general public are nullified, and people are left cursing the rulers for their inability to check the price spiral before and during Ramazan. The federal government, under the express instructions of President Musharraf, announced a relief package for people with limited resources. But when buyers go to the nearest utility store they are plainly told, in a very rude manner, that they cannot buy flour, rice and sugar for meeting their domestic requirements unless they also purchase other items worth between Rs500 to Rs1,000. All this and in fact even much more is happening to the great disadvantage of the people owing to absence of an efficient and effective monitoring system.
It is rather painful to see that the intended relief, irrespective of the amount involved, is thus denied to the people by the staff posted at the utility stores network, and in turn the rulers receive criticism from those who are denied the small benefit of the Ramazan Package. President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should take a close look at what is happening at the utility stores and immediately act against those responsible for denying the benefits to the people. This action is essential because these people are not only bringing a bad name to the rulers but also denying the people what is critical for their very survival. Such elements deserve no mercy whatsoever. These persons are not only jeopardising the continuation of the Ramazan Package but also sabotaging the many other good things which the government is doing or is planning to put into operation for people's benefit. [The News]
OPERATION INFLATION
[Ashfaq Sharif]
I want to draw the attention of the local governments towards the problems afflicting the middle and lower-middle class households during Ramadan. The prices of kitchen items such as oil, ghee, fruits, food grain and flour have risen drastically. Firstly, why are these prices left unchecked? Traders and retailers who do not abide by the price lists prescribed by the government should be severely punished to put a stop to this blatantly corrupt practice. Traders indulge in black marketing and enjoy profits far above a reasonable margin in this particular month. What is the purpose of fasting if these retailers and hoarders cannot feel the pain of those who are less fortunate than them? Unfortunately, none of our leaders understand the pain of the poor either. [Daily Times]
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Issue of the Month: The Wheat/Flour Price Crisis
PRICE HIKE
[Saima Iqbal, Karachi]
Pakistan suffers from a shortage of wheat flour in the holy month of Ramazan and this shortage will result in the price of this staple commodity. Pakistan is self-sufficient in the production of wheat and rice. But one wonders why the price of these items is skyrocketing. With the poverty rate already so high, and the forbidding prices of these staples is making it still more difficult for ordinary people to make both ends meet.
According to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the government has decided to import one million tones of wheat to meet the shortage, which exists despite abundant stocks following a bumper crop this year. I think one of the main reasons behind the scarcity of wheat is its hoarding and lack of an inefficient system of control and monitoring for prices of items of daily use.
The record rise in inflation is a glaring reflection of the failure of the economic policies of the government of President Musharraf. It is astonishing that this government has decreased the prices of home and electronic appliances, but the price of basic commodities like edible oil, wheat, flour, rice, pulses, grain and vegetables is going higher and higher. It is as if this government wanted the masses to die of starvation. [The News]
WHEAT CRISIS
[Mobeen Afzal, Lahore]
I do recollect that some time early this year the government had allowed export of wheat estimated to be surplus consequent to the bumper crop. A couple of months down the line, the government is importing wheat in an attempt to bring down the prices of flour being attributed to shortage. What is happening?. Will someone explain? [Dawn]
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
[Shakir Lakhani, Karachi]
According to a news item, our honourable ministers do not want to crack down on those who are hoarding wheat because the hoarders are influential people like themselves and could create problems for the ruling party in the general elections. So what else is new? No action was taken against those who caused the sugar shortage, because either some ministers or their relatives were involved. It seems that only crooks can get elected to parliament in Pakistan, and ironically it is they who decide the amount of taxes we, the law abiding citizens, must pay. [Daily Times]
WHEAT SMUGGLING & PRICE OF FLOUR
[Inayat Ullah Sheikh, Karachi]
We had a bumper crop of wheat of 23.5 million tons this year. This was sufficient to go for the local consumption. Just after the budget for 2007-8, Adviser to the Ministry of Finance Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan told on many TV channels that wheat was being hoarded by some people and even the containers were parked at petrol pumps and also available in godowns. The government did not find a single kilogram.
Then we saw the five million tons exported to India. Suddenly, it was halted on the plea that there is going to be a shortage of the commodity in the near future. The TV channels are telling people that a minster is involved in smuggling of wheat to India and about 200 trucks per day are being smuggled via the border of Sindh. The minister was named in the federal cabinet meeting held recently. Can the public at large know the name of the minister?
The price of wheat flour at the time of the budget was Rs15 to 16 per kg. Today it is not available in many parts of the country and if available it costs Rs20 to Rs21 per kg. The crop of Australia is half of the normal harvest. India has shortage of wheat and is importing from Iran and Russia.
If we import this wheat from abroad, the European price is around $300 per ton f.o.b.The C and F price, if imported, will not be less than Rs23 per kg. The Fedral Bureau of Statistics should tell us how they are measuring food inflation @ 10.01 per cent. [Dawn]
MISMANAGEMENT OF WHEAT
[T Mallick, Lahore]
One has to question the nature of governance in this country when we have a bumper wheat crop and then export it, only to import it again when a severe wheat shortage occurs. The government puts the blame on hoarders and smugglers who ship local wheat to India and Afghanistan, while remaining silent on its own role. Everybody knows that the border with India is strictly controlled all along the Punjab. Smuggling to India cannot take place without a serious breach of the border security set up on both sides of the divide. How can Mr Shaukat Aziz explain his decision to export wheat valued at $98 million in 2005-06, only to import wheat worth $133 million to meet local demands?
The same happened in 2004-05 with exports of $91 million and imports of $93 million. While individuals have gained, the state exchequer has lost. And this shoddy management is taking place under a prime minister who cannot stop bragging about economic growth. What’s the point of economic growth if it cannot be managed properly? Considering that this is an election year, the least this regime could have done was to ensure that the masses don’t suffer from the greed of the hoarders. It would have brought some much-needed good will for them. [Daily Times]
WHEAT CRISIS
[Hussain Siddiqui, Islamabad]
Who is responsible for the present wheat and wheat flour crisis prevalent in the country, despite Pakistan's record crop of over 23 million tons of wheat this summer? It is not known what action, if any, the government has taken against those responsible. It took none in the recent past against those behind in the sugar crisis, stock exchange scam and other scandals of this nature.
The government is now resorting to importing one million tons of wheat---at almost double the price at which it exported the commodity recently. Thus, the government is expected to pay a subsidy of Rs12 billion on the imported wheat to keep its prices in the domestic market at an affordable level. But who will ultimately bear the additional burden of Rs12 billion? The public exchequer, obviously.
Primarily, it is the short-sighted and lopsided economic policy of the government and poor governance, causing skyrocketing prices of essential food items in particular, such as wheat flour, sugar, cooking oil, meat, pulses, vegetables and fruits. One wonders for whose benefit the government policies are framed and implemented. They are certainly not in the interest of the masses. On the one hand, the government has been exporting wheat and, on the other, it regularly imports wheat. The statistics are mind-boggling, indeed. Pakistan exported wheat valued at $98 million in fiscal 2005-06 and later imported the same commodity at $133 million. In 2004-05, $91 million was exported in wheat and $93 million imported. Likewise, in 2003-04, we exported the grain valued at $6 million and paid four times that amount for its import. The export figures for wheat flour and that of commodities smuggled during the periods are not accounted for.
Shockingly, Pakistan has also exported fruits and vegetables worth $166 million in 2006-07, $134 million in 2005-06 and $126 million in 2004-05. Meat exports during these years amounted to $42 million, $15 million and $18 million, in addition to the export of livestock. Then, we have been importing fruits and vegetables, meat and animals on year-on-year basis. Exports at what cost, one may ask? [The News]
BUYING WHEAT NOW A FEAT
[Ruth Sadiq, Lahore]
The quota for wheat in NWFP and the FATA regions has drastically gone down from 15000 tons per day in 1999/2000 to a mere 1500 tons per day in 2007. This is despite a bumper crop of wheat this year. In the wake of a severe wheat shortage in the country, the Punjab government has decided to take action by releasing a larger supply to flour mills in the province. However, no such measures have been taken in NWFP and FATA, which continue to rely on Punjab for their supply of wheat. Such a scenario does not bode well for our already polarised provincial situation.
What is surprising is that government functionaries, including Special Secretary for Finance Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan, have been making claims since mid-August that they are aware of the hoarders and plan to crack down on them to restore wheat supply in the country. They clearly have failed to do so and are now announcing the need for importing one million tonnes of wheat to meet the shortage! The government’s impotence in cracking down on hoarders is reflective of its lack of control over the market forces that are steering our economy, so much so that 440000-450000 tonnes of wheat were allowed to be exported/smuggled out of the country. It is ironic that we will now import wheat, which may be harvested from our own land, from other countries.
The tall claims that our prime minister makes about the success of utility stores have also come crashing down. The blatant exploitation of consumers by utility store retailers continues unabated. The representatives of the magistrate’s office, assigned to check wheat prices, have failed to come up with a system that ensures constant surveillance, since the retailers keep changing the prices to derive maximum benefit from this national crisis.
The political quagmire in our country pales in comparison to the above-mentioned crisis. The fear of a mass uprising in case Musharraf succeeds in getting re-elected as President may be ill-founded, as the public may not have enough energy (gained from carbohydrates, derived from wheat flour) to come out on the streets! [Daily Times]
'MARTEY HUAE GHAREEB KO...'
[Mohammad Ali Chundrigar, Karachi]
Kiun is everybody crying and shouting about Atta becoming rarer than gold and getting out of reach of the poor? Pagal brainless people hain the people who cannot afford to buy Atta anymore to feed their family at least half-a-meal a day to survive at the edge of living.
Once and for all we should decipher and understand the mind-set of the present day doers. High time the people and media stop bombarding them with complaints about shortages and spiraling price hikes deflecting their attention away from more important issues like getting elected to do...whatever.
If a few million poor starve, so what? They should continue to do so as a duty in the supreme national interest. It is but just a small sacrifice by the poor to ensure that the karta-dhartas (Robber Barons) brazenly continue to loot and plunder the hapless people at will to ensure continuity of their vulgarly ostentatious lifestyles.
So what agar people Bhooke Mar Rahe Hain? At least the much-hyped foreign exchange has flowed in by exporting the 'gandum' all because of fantastic economic policies formulated and executed by the geniuses. People samajhte Kiun Nahin? Bila Wajha Shor Hangama Ke Atta is not available. Crazy people.
As it is, poor and poverty 'must not' exist in the land of the pure ruled by bankers and their doubles. Has anyone heard of a banker or a double, of any repute, having any truck or relationship with a poor person? (an exception being a Bangladeshi).
Message is loud and clear to all the poor and lower middle-classes. If you cannot afford it, stop complaining and start starving! Do it in the 'national' interest! And the election slogan for the ruling clique "Martey Huae Ghareeb Ko, Aik Dhakka Aur Do!" [Business Recorder]
CRUSH THE CARTELS
[Ayesha Naveed, Lahore]
In the 2004-2005 Economic Survey, the formation of cartels by producers of key commodities was blamed on food inflation and denying consumers the benefit of record levels of domestic production. Again, no measures were proposed to deal with this issue.
It is hoped that after suspending the export of wheat, the government will now take stringent steps to curb the malpractices committed by the middleman, food cartels and hoarders. It will also prevent smuggling of wheat and other items to bring enduring relief to the people. Surely, the government cannot remain aloof from the miseries heaped on the common people by the rising prices of food commodities, especially flour and sugar. [The Post]
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From the National Press
BEGGARY OF A DIFFERENT KIND
[M. M. Khan, Karachi]
Many readers have witten letters protesting against write-offs of bank debts to the tune of Rs18bn some three years back while the basic option and duty of the banks concerned was to recover those huge loans through legal process, pulling the defaulters in banking courts and going up to forfeiting the personal assets of the defaulting borrowers. The nation is surprised to see how swiftly and conveniently those defaulters were rescued and their account files were closed under prerogative of either the State Bank authorities and or the government authorities. I was under impression that the case some three years before was the only case of write-offs, depriving the shareholders of the dividend that would have otherwise gone to them.
Your editorial (Aug 25) on the same subject is an eye-opener that the practice of bad borrowings followed by write-offs declaring them non-operating loans is working nonstop as the information contained in your editorial speaks of some Rs33 billion bank debts written off in the last three years in industrial and agriculture sectors.
And then subsidies are also given to the same defaulting borrowers to help them, not in the recovery of the bad loans, but in the upkeep of their status in society. Those who should live forever behind bars for such irresponsible activities are roaming around freely and dominating society.
The common man of this country is sustaining shocks after shocks to read about this facilitation by arrangement to the members of the club of convenience among the elite of the country according to significance of these defaulters to the highups in the government.
Which government would approve of these dare-devil activities going on unchecked in the presence of government-appointed ombudsmen. Is this the standard of our parliamentary democracy in Pakistan and is this not at all the concern of the masses even to raise a finger at this swindling of national funds, even if the funds belong to banks? Yes, we should remember that the banks in the country were nationalised perhaps to make easy ride on them. Obviously there are two to three tiers of democracy in this country and the lowest tier is appeased and pleased by making them realise that they have the right of vote to elect parliamentarians.
The cream from the country’s economy is scammed by the upper tier of democracy. The lifestyle of the elite is maintained and thrives on provisions of such loots and swindle of national funds. These violators and their sponsors are no short of beggars of a different kind. They are bandits, taking the national wealth by force.
The poor of this country will never be able to come up to an honourable status and take their fair share from the national resources and economy as long as these human vultures and crocodiles who loot the national wealth are protected by their sponsors, putting dust in the eyes of the whole nation. How long shall this be allowed to go on? [Dawn]
SQUANDERING PUBLIC MONEY
[Arshad Mustafa, Karachi]
It is shocking to discover that three prime ministers spent a total of Rs43 million of the taxpayers’ money in performing Umrah along with an entourage of family members and friends last year. Abuse of power and misuse of public funds are known characteristics of Pakistan’s ruling establishments. What is the point of going for Umrah when the money used to get to Mecca is not one’s own?
It is saddening to note that power in Pakistan forces one to believe that norms of decency and ethics, and the requirements of the law and the constitution do not apply to him. Pakistan desperately needs to improve its apparatus of accountability. Otherwise, even angels will turn into demons. [Daily Times]
PETROLEUM DEALERS’ COMMISSION
[Usman Bux, Rawalpindi]
The government fixed the dealers’ commission at four per cent of the value of the invoice, that is, the price at which the dealers buy the product.
Later, guided by the IMF, the government imposed a 15 per cent sales tax as a formality, which was introduced in the invoice by keeping the final value of the product exactly the same as before, so that the price of the product and the dealers’ commission remained the same. Petroleum development levy (PDL) has always been a part of the invoice price.
This formula was correct as the sales tax, PDL and other indirect taxes on all products are collected from the final users/consumers, which does not include oil marketing companies (OMCs) and their dealers. The collection mechanism is very simple. Sales tax and PDL are collected by the OMCs from their dealers before delivery of fuel and deposited with the government every two weeks.
Also, while decanting Super from the tank lorries into underground tanks and then from the pumps into cars, one per cent of the product evaporates and is lost. This is not taken into account by the government when charging sales tax. Last year the government went against the agreement when it decided to deduct the sales tax before calculating the commission of the dealers/OMCs.
This was not justified due to the reasons cited above, and led to decrease of about one per cent, taking the commissions from four per cent to three per cent. This year, on Aug 24, the government took out PDL before calculating the commissions. This decreased the commissions of the dealers from three per cent to two per cent.
The commissions of the OMCs also went down in the same proportion. These two moves are unjustified. The government needs to rectify these mistakes and revert to the original formula for calculating commissions for petroleum dealers as per agreement.
All petrol stations are faced with falling sales due to conversion of most of the cars to CNG, increased competition due to the rising number of stations and the high cost of maintenance of new vision stations. Together with rising wages, electricity tariff, clothing, and basic food items to name a few, this business is becoming difficult with each passing day. [Dawn]
ANOTHER TAX COMING?
[Dr M. Yaqoob Bhatti, Lahore Cantt.]
It has been reported in the press (on 24/08/2007) that Federal Board of Revenue is examining Turkish tax system proposals that include imposition of one per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on agriculture products transactions so that this sector is also brought into the tax net.
This outlandish proposal has, however, not defined as to what agriculture products would include the value added tax. Normally the primary unprocessed agricultural products including eg wheat grain, fresh milk, poultry birds and eggs are not supposed to be subject to levy of income tax as per the constitution (Fourth Schedule of Federal Legislative List Part I Item 47).
The agricultural income from the sale of such products is free from levying of income tax. As such it ought to be defined as to which agricultural products are value added i.e. after processing of primary products which by themselves are not taxable.
The single word of agricultural products as such would confuse the issue of value added tax which could only be valid for processed agricultural products rather than the primary unprocessed products. Such half-baked proposals only create confusion which is not conducive to agricultural development. [The Nation]
AT WHOSE EXPENSE?
[Dr Irfan Zafar, Islamabad]
The government of Punjab is spending millions of rupees on the advertisements being shown daily on the electronic media describing the achievements made the Punjab government under the "able" leadership of the Punjab chief minister.
The honourable chief minister is spending the taxpayer's money ferociously on his self-projection and glorification so as to enable him to win the upcoming elections of the National Assembly. According to election rules, any candidate who spends above a certain limit in the election campaign will stand disqualified to run for election. It is requested that the Election Commission take notice of this ongoing violation of election rules by the Punjab chief minister and direct him to deposit all the public money spent on the advertising campaign back into the national exchequer. [The News]
SUGAR MAFIA
[Mahmood Malik, Rawalpindi Cantt.]
The cat is out of the bag. The NAB has named names and they are all big fish of the present government. If the law is allowed to take its course, they should be made to reimburse the looted amount to the exchequer. They should be penalized for selling their product at exorbitant rates after hoarding it. A suitable punishment would teach them not to loot the people who put them in power. Then it will be up to the electorate to see their true faces and not elect them in the forthcoming elections. [The Nation]
CONSUMERS’ RIGHTS
[M. Abid Ali Bukhari, Lahore]
In the US and many other countries the consumers have certain rights regarding the products introduced by different companies. Law recognises such rights of them. They are provided with relief in case of some kind of loss suffered due to malfunctioning of such products and the courts give exemplary decisions to deter the other manufacturers of the similar products from manufacturing substandard appliances of daily use.
Not only the citizens individually are active in securing their rights, but also the numerous consumers’ rights protection associations are playing effective role in this regard. In such a right-conscious society, it is very difficult for the companies to grab money from the people while selling things that may turn even dangerous because of some manufacturing fault.
On the other hand, unfortunately, awareness in our people in that regard is to the extent, which is not satisfactory. However, a little effort has been made by the government through establishing courts in Lahore for providing relief to the consumers. But because of the limitation of jurisdiction of these courts, not only the people of the rest of Punjab are unable to come to these courts, but also they are out of reach of the millions of people of other provinces.
Also the consumers’ rights protection associations are limited only to the few cities like Karachi and Lahore. This is a greatly favourable situation for the exploiters of the rights of general public, having faith only in generating income by selling the products buying which is sheer loss of money. Such products after being purchased by people stop sound functioning after passage of time. Normally people abstain from going to courts considering it wastage of time and money and, thereby, letting the door for exploitation in future. Because of this, the companies are encouraged and the vicious cycle continues. [Dawn]
A GREAT SHAME
[Dr M. Yaqoob Bhatti, Lahore Cantt.]
We claim to be the fifth largest producer of milk in the world with over 31 million tonnes of milk being produced here annually but the great irony is that it is almost impossible to procure a glass of pure, unadulterated milk to drink. The milk supplied by Gowalas at our doorsteps is adulterated with a bewildering variety of pollutants including urea, starch, hair removing powder, carcinogenic chemicals as well as germicides, hormones, antibiotics etc. When one turns to processed milk, it too tastes bitter due to the addition of caustic soda or sweetened by adding sugar which changes the wholesome taste of pure milk. It has been learnt that analysis of processed milk from a reputed brand revealed presence of carcinogenic formaldehyde in the milk due to no fault of processor but the supplier of milk that polluted the milk at source.
After trying all the milk brands including the gawar gum based thick paint like milk, I have finally started using imported milk powder from Holland which is a product of pure cow milk. By addition of water it costs about Rs.50 per liter of milk. We import Rs.2.7 billion worth of milk products in the year 2005-06 which belies our status of a leading milk producer in the world. It appears we have failed to harness the large production of milk due to lack of honest practices in production and marketing. [The Nation]
TELLING EFFECTS OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION
[Sikandar Ali Shah, Karachi]
Citizens endure taxing anxiety almost every day due to rampant traffic jams in almost all big cities of the country. Fatal incidents are on record when critically ailing patients had to breathe their last in the middle of the road as ambulances carrying them were stuck in traffic jams. Whose responsibility is it to resolve problems that affect everyday public life so gravely? The government is spending huge amounts from the national exchequer on various departments of public service but the question is, what is it delivering?
The traffic congestion, accompanied with alarming rate of street crime, has hit hard by and large every individual; even the towns are no more secure from this menace causing severe mental strain, the mother of all diseases. Effects are visible, for instance, high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness, fidgeting, sleep disorders. These can be subsumed under three general categories: physiological, psychological and behavioural symptoms.
Let’s take a look at our neighbour India, how they are managing road traffic in mega cities.
Kolkata, provincial seat of West Bengal, at one time capital of British India. The Communist Party at wheel of the administration claims that it is not Mumbai, not Delhi, it’s Kolkata that manages traffic the best. The vehicular traffic is very much in the fast lane despite the metropolis having the highest density of vehicles per kilometre among all metros. The city has a density of 814.80 vehicles, the highest among per km road length as compared to 766.31 for Mumbai, followed by 616.58 Chennai and 170 Delhi.
The city has the minimum road length among all the metros with 1,404km, followed by 1,800km in Chennai, 1,900km in Mumbai and 25,948km in Delhi. The Kolkata traffic police have been successful in attaining a travel speed of almost 19km an hour, which is amazing under the circumstances.
This achievement is to be seen in the backdrop of the major constraints of a burgeoning population, growing number of vehicles, hand-pulled rickshaws and handcarts operating under the Hackney Carriage Act, limited road space, regular processions, demonstrations and road blockades by political groups.
The Mumbai Municipal Corporation is set to design, construct and commission a traffic infrastructure management system. The project has been financed by the World Bank. It is expected to reduce travel time, cut down pollution levels and fuel consumption: the Spanish IT firm Telvent has undertaken the project.
Now, real time intelligent traffic control for Mumbai is not far away. Telvent technology will constantly acquire data on road status, including number of vehicles arriving at intersections by each access point. The data will be used to constantly adjust traffic lights at each intersection in accordance with real-time demand and in coordination with neighbouring intersections for optimal coordination between intersections and reduce traffic congestion.
Now if we talk about developed states, words of praise fall short for their traffic system. For instance, congestion charging, introduced in London and Edinburgh, has produced positive results. The firms, experienced in the UK and internationally, offer expertise on design, management, monitoring, tools, resources and expert knowledge to the customers.
An innovative technology called Metro Count Vehicle Classifier System is another device which combines state-of-the-art traffic logging hardware easy-to-use software. The Metro Count provides a total solution to all traffic monitoring issues, from routine statistics through to the most complex traffic management problems.
Granted, there is no dearth of honest and capable workers in our administration who can emulate and enforce successfully the workable systems here, provided they are given due encouragement and the fawning flatterers are kept at bay. [Dawn]
READING BOOKS
[Naseem Tariq, Rawalpindi]
Reading in itself is a very important habit, as reading different books widens our outlook in life. It is crucial to being an informed citizen, to succeed in one’s chosen career, and for personal fulfillment. But one should be really picky about what to read. As famous Chilean poet and communist politician, Pablo Neruda, once said, “The books that help you most are those that make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading, but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.” [The Post]
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CSR Views & News
CITIBANK WINS CSR AWARD
Citibank NA Pakistan was among 12 corporations that took home the highly-coveted CSR National Excellence award for outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Citibank NA is the only financial institution awarded in its category. Winners were awarded under two broad categories that included environmental initiatives and community services that took into account several factors critical to CSR success, from sustainability to employee communications to community relations.
Presented by the CSR Association of Pakistan and an NGO Help International Welfare Trust Pakistan, the programme seeks to honour corporations that have successfully demonstrated the altruism, philanthropy and employee commitment to ‘do good’ which can go a long way towards making an impact on a community, key stakeholders and a company’s bottom line.
Speaking at the award presentation ceremony, President of the Association S Arif Ali congratulated Citibank on the consistency of its efforts and highlighted the bank’s impressive record both via its philanthropic arm Citi Foundation and through its structured encouragement of employee volunteerism.
Accepting the award, Rayomond Kotwal, Chief of Staff, Citibank NA Pakistan, said, “Since 2002, the Citi Foundation has given more than Rs160 million (US$2.7 million) by way of grants in Pakistan. This is over and above our efforts at volunteering, which have amounted to Rs420 million (US$7 million) for the earthquake alone.”
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Edited and prepared by
Khalil Ahmad
Email: khalilkf@yahoo.com khalil@asinstitute.org
[FreePakistan Newsletter, among other things, is a compilation of views and news taken from the national newspapers’ print and online editions. It is not possible to mention the source of every piece of news or view made use of herein; but as a matter of policy, where possible the source is mentioned with due thanks. However, no opinion expressed here should necessarily be taken as reflecting the view of Free Pakistan Newsletter.]
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